The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Coaches react to spectator limitations
In a statement released March 10, the OHSAA announced upcoming state tournaments will be held with limited spectators.
The announcement comes after statements made by Governor Mike DeWine on March 10, recommending indoor sporting events take place with no spectators other than parents and those essential to the games.
This follows an announcement March 9 from Governor DeWine that three Ohioans tested positive for novel coronavirus.
The news affects several Morning Journal coverage area athletes and teams, who are set to compete at state this weekend, including Firelands wrestling coach Josh Walbom and state qualifier Payton Burgdorf.
“My initial thoughts are that it’s unfortunate, especially in our situation,” Walbom said.
“We’re taking down a senior who’s going for his fourth time placing at state. We have a large contingency of people who were planning on following him down. It’s unfortunate for all the athletes, because part of the reason state is so exciting is because of the crowd getting into it. The cheering and the booing, all that stuff.”
Burgdorf is a three-time state placer and is set to wrestle Milton-Union’s Peyton Brown on March 14 after winning the D-II Norwalk District title at 132 pounds.
Elyria Catholic girls basketball coach Eric Rothgery was also disappointed to hear the news. The fourth-ranked Panthers play top-ranked Berlin Hiland in a D-III state semifinal March 13 at St. John Arena at Ohio State.
“It’s disappointing. The girls work very hard to get to this point, and that atmosphere down there can be really electric,” he said. “Our thoughts were with it being down there at St. John Arena that we might be playing in front of a full house, or close to it. So it’s disappointing, but we’re going to do everything we can not to make it a distraction and go down there to play basketball and take care of business.”
Alongside the state tournaments taking place, regional games for boys basketball will also be affected, including the Lorain vs St. Edward game scheduled for March 11.
“It’s complicated,” OHSAA Executive Director Jerry Snodgrass said at a news conference March 10. “The complication deals with the fact that right now we are dealing with two different venues for our state tournaments. While we also have 16 different regionals going on in boys basketball.”
Titans boys basketball coach John Rositano wanted to wait for news to become official on the OHSAA plans for the regional rounds before commenting for this story. Rositano and Rothgery were still waiting to
hear who will be let into the venues for these games.
According to Snodgrass, the OHSAA is currently mulling several options, including allowing each student-athlete to bring four family members. But the executive director admitted that number could change.
When asked about whether or not the student athletes and their four family members will be screened, Snodgrass could not provide an answer, only stating they are not ready to answer that at this point: “It’s on our table to address.”
Snodgrass said the OHSAA will be in contact with schools that sold tickets on refund options for parents and students who purchased tickets to the events. Which could have a significant effect on the budgeting for the remainder of 2020 for the OHSAA.
“80% of our revenues are derived from ticket sales,” he said. “I don’t have the proper word at this point to describe the impact it’s going to have, but maybe significant is the best word I can find at this time.”